These past couple of weeks, I’ve retreated to the editing room to take another run at Gauguin in the Closet, the title I prefer to Mr. Hell Goes to Frogtown.
Since last I looked at Mr. Hell, there have been a few saving graces to come along to cover the sins of my past.
Emotionally, it’s impossible for me to go back to that part of my life when Hell was written, which is a good thing. When it was last staged, now a few years back, the audience understood the message a bit more than the first time around, and now that here in the US we have a black president, it will be interesting to see how it plays out to a largely unsuspecting audience.
It’s somewhat uncomfortable, given the piece was basically scheduled for a one time reading, then burning. If I had read “Toad Road” way back when in college class, I doubt I would have let it go up, but it bothered me that I didn’t read it at the time, so I decided to let Hell out the door.
As it turned out, Randy Hell, has developed a life unto himself, which is I ultimately think is a good thing.
One of the questions I’ve asked myself, is why return to the original title, since the piece is generally referred to as “Mr. Hell” or “Frogtown or “Mr. Hate,” and “Gauguin in the closet” is misleading as hell, given the inevitable title shortening to “Gauguin.”
First thing, here is the painting, Mr. Hell claims to own by Paul Gauguin. Eü haere ia oe (Woman Holding a Fruit). I think it’s one of the standard paintings of his that shows up in art books, prints, and so on.
Anyway, when I came on the actual painting in Russia, it was something of a highlight. So referring to the Hermitage as Randy’s closet has a certain appeal.
There was a certain perverse appeal having my photo taken next to it by a proud resident of Connecticut, which as it turns out, is quite a nice state.
Ultimately, by colorizing the piece, I am changing it into something new, which is kind of cool. To me anyway. So the work goes on.
